Orrin Hatch (R-UT-Senate)i

Orrin Hatch Senator Utah

Orrin Hatch Biography from Senate.gov

Biography of Orrin Hatch

Orrin Grant Hatch was born on March 22, 1934, to Jesse and Helen Hatch. His great-grandfather, Jeremiah Hatch, founded what is now known as Vernal, located in eastern Utah’s great Uintah basin. Senator Hatch married the former Elaine Hansen of Newton, Utah. They are the proud parents of six children, twenty-three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

At an early age, Senator Hatch learned the value of hard work. His father worked long hours as a metal lather to provide for his family. As a young man, Senator Hatch also learned the metal lathing trade and was a card-carrying member of the AFL-CIO. He worked his way through college at Brigham Young University, graduating in 1959 with a degree in history. He was awarded a full honors scholarship to the University of Pittsburgh Law School. As a law student, he struggled to provide for his growing family, working as a janitor, a metal lather and at night as an all-night desk attendant in a dormitory. In 1962, he received his Juris Doctorate, graduating with honors.

After receiving his law degree, Senator Hatch was a practicing attorney, first in Pennsylvania then in Utah, until his election to the United States Senate in 1976. Since then, Senator Hatch has received six honorary doctorate degrees from law schools and universities.

Prior to his election to the Senate in 1976, Senator Hatch was a political outsider who entered the race as a dark horse for the Republican nomination to oppose three-term incumbent Democrat Frank E. Moss. Despite the overwhelming odds against him, he fervently believed he could make a difference in Washington. His campaign was based on the guiding conservative principles of limited government, tax restraint, and integrity in public service. After winning the GOP Nomination, he went on to defeat Senator Moss, who many said could not be beaten, with 54 percent of the vote.

As Utah’s senator, Orrin Hatch has continued to stand by those principles that earned him his Senate seat. He has continually fought an expanding federal bureaucracy and has been at the forefront of the battle against burdensome and costly federal regulations. He has been recognized by the National Taxpayers’ Union for his fiscal responsibility and has been dubbed by others as “Mr. Free Enterprise,” “Guardian of Small Business,” and “Mr. Constitution.” He also has been honored with the prestigious Tax Fighter Award for his votes to reduce spending, cut taxes and shrink the size of government. In 2009, U.S. News & World Report magazine and the Harvard Center for Public Leadership named Senator Hatch as one of America’s top twenty-two leaders.

Senator Hatch is the Ranking Republican on the Senate Committee on Finance, the committee responsible for overseeing 60 percent of the federal budget including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as all tax policy and international trade agreements. Hatch, a leading advocate for policies to encourage savings and investment, such as the Capital Formation Act of 1997 and the Research Tax Credit, has consistently fought for lower taxes as a means of spurring long-term economic growth. He also played a key role in enacting the welfare reform bill.

As the most senior Republican member and former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch is a leader in the fight for tougher anti-crime laws, civil justice reform to unclog the courts, and legislation to protect individual property rights. He also takes an active role in the confirmation of all judicial nominations, including justices of the Supreme Court, and has a direct impact on such issues as civil rights, immigration, antitrust and consumer protection, and issues related to the Constitution.

Now in his sixth term as Utah’s senator, Orrin Hatch has championed a variety of legislative causes. Among his many achievements and initiatives are the balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, the Strengthening Our Commitment to Legal Immigration and America’s Security Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Omnibus Property Rights Act, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, the Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act, the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act, FDA reform, the Orphan Drug Act, the Ryan White AIDS Care legislation, the Job Training Partnership Act, the Utah School Trust Lands Exchange Act, and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) for Utah downwinders.

Senator Hatch continues to lead in the fight to repeal the unconstitutional individual mandate and other provisions in the $2.6 trillion health law. He is on the front lines of legislative battles to secure the nation’s borders, stop the forced unionization of American workers and to bring fiscal restraint back to Washington by ending the reckless spending that threatens to bankrupt the nation.

Senator Hatch is also a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Joint Committee on Taxation. He also has the honor of serving on the Board of Directors for the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Biography from Hatch Election Committee Inc.

Three strong traits serve as the hallmark of Orrin Hatch’s life: service, hard work and perseverance. These qualities have guided him throughout his service in the United States Senate representing the state of Utah and fighting for the ideals that define the state and its people.

Senator Hatch’s core values were learned at the knee of his father, a hard working metal lather, and his mother, a devout woman who encouraged her son’s appetite for learning and giving service to others, and his spirit of patriotism for our country.

Always striving to protect the principles of limited government, lower taxes, less federal spending, and integrity in public service, Hatch has been a leader in developing strong legislation that works in such key areas as: balancing the budget; tax reform, improving health care services for Utah’s families, and protecting our lands while opening the way for energy and natural resource development.

In a political era of sound bites and rhetoric—Senator Hatch has built a record of service few can match. He has fought and won many important legislative battles that have impacted the lives of every American.

Senator Hatch has always been one of the leading proponents of tax relief believing the tax burden on families and businesses remains too high. He is currently working to bring some sanity to our tax code through simplification and lower rates, and separate this effort from deficit reduction. Believing in true fiscal responsibility, he has also been a consistent leader in the fight for a Balanced Budget Amendment so that the federal government has to do what American families do every day—live within its means.

As the first member of Congress to raise constitutional concerns with the constitutionality of the individual mandate in ObamaCare, Senator Hatch continues to fight to repeal this unconstitutional law that will cost the American people $2.6 trillion dollars.

Hatch has led the confirmations for Supreme Court Justices: Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts and was one of the principal defenders of Robert Bork and fought the filibuster of President Bush’s appellate court nominees.

From his first days in the Senate, Hatch established himself as one of the leading anti-union advocates, defeating nationwide unionization under Jimmy Carter, and blocking anti-Democratic “Card Check” legislation. He has been a consistent supporter of the Right to Life; Israel’s right to defend itself against hostile neighbors bent on its destruction and has always opposed amnesty, voting against it even when it meant going against Ronald Reagan and when President Bush pushed Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

While Senator Hatch is proud of his Senate accomplishments and his work to protect family values, his greatest “family value” is his wonderful wife Elaine and his six children, 23 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren. Calling his family his greatest blessing, Hatch hopes his work in the Senate will benefit all Utah and American families by creating opportunities for success and protecting our freedoms.

Senator Hatch’s Priorities:

Pass a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution—Congress should to do what Americans do every day, live within its means.
Fight to bring fiscal sanity to Washington.
Repeal ObamaCare.
Cut spending, the Utah way—without raising taxes.
Reform the burdensome tax code and get the IRS off the backs of families and small businesses.
Reform Medicare and Social Security to prevent it from bankrupting this country and ensure that it will be solvent for future generations.
Continue to bring Utah values and the Utah way to Washington—pro-family, pro-business, low taxes, small government and living within our means.
Defend Utah’s right to develop our land and resources the way WE want them developed—without meddling from radical environmentalists.